


By the Light of the Moon

by Kumotan



Category: The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Supernatural, Gen, Indefinent Hiatus, M/M, Pre-Relationship, Threesome - M/M/M, and just starting, budding jercico, but a threesome none the less!, cept it's like fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-11-17
Updated: 2015-12-30
Packaged: 2018-02-25 17:36:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 21,009
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2630399
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kumotan/pseuds/Kumotan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nico was an ordinary kid, if not a little particular in the smallest of ways. He stayed apart from his classmates, did what he could to counter bullies and the like, and generally tried not to be too noticeable about his school life.  His outward nature was stand-offish at best, he liked to keep to himself and put up a front of scowls and glares to avoid garnering too much attention. But inside, beyond gruffness and general ‘stay away or else’ kind of nature he was a creative type. </p><p> He liked to read though it had been hard to learn at first and was an avid fan of anything fictional of the supernatural or fantasy verity. He also liked to draw and take photographs, anything of the artistic sort. He was fairly smart too, high enough grades to be above average though not too high to gain attention (even though he could easily get the highest grade in his year).</p><p> Though his everyday normalcy was about to change in a chance meeting one late evening with a mysterious teen within an empty playground near the woods that bordered the suburb around his home. A path of mystery, adventure, and budding romance awaits.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Unbeta'd, though I will likely edit this when I have more free time. 
> 
> I would like to thank one of my wonderful friends for the title idea too.

Nico sighed a little and groaned as the early morning light filtered through a crack in his denim dark curtains. He had asked Bianca to get the extra thick ones for a _reason_ how could they even possibly **dare** to betray him like this. He threw an arm over his eyes while squeezing them shut before counting to fifteen and then opening them again so they could adjust to the low but mildly blinding light. ‘At least that was better.’ He thought to himself while blinking away any remaining sleep or grogginess that lingered and attempted to drag him back to the comfort of blissful unconsciousness for a few more hours… but unfortunately a glance at the clock told him it couldn’t be so. It was 7:15 AM on a Monday morning, so that meant he had school in less than an hour. He’d forgotten to set his alarm last night after staying up a hell of a lot later than he really should have the night before.

He’d been in one of his reading moods and against better judgment… he happened to lose himself completely within another life… another person’s head… when he really should have stopped reading about three hours earlier than he actually had. Something that hadn’t even been by choice considering the book was on the floor and may have slid off his chest at some point during the night to thud to the ground face-up. Bending down to pick it up, he inspected the novel and was happy to find it in fairly good condition still. At least none of the pages were unintentionally dog-eared or crumpled in the fall, something which Nico was immensely thankful for. He was a kid diagnosed early with Dyslexia and ADHD though he had overcome his reading difficulty with plenty of practice which led to easy book submersion that eventually led to a more mild case of the latter disability as the raven haired male got older… he found he had soon developed a mild case of OCD when it came to his books and their state of being though.

It wasn’t like that was a bad thing either. It actually did well in forcing him to keep his room in a semi-state of cleanliness to where books were never carelessly placed. He had a large shelf to accommodate every book he had to his name though it didn’t even come to half fill the case just yet so there was plenty of room for all his little portals to different worlds and plenty of room for his collections of worlds to grow and grow. Also prominent in his room was another shelf… smaller than the first… that seemed to be completely filled with blank sketches in the top two shelves and chock full of the most beautiful scenic art, animal and still-life alike, in the lower shelves of the bookcase. Not to mention his black painted bedroom had several walls just filled with picture after picture of almost nothing but different kinds of flora and wildlife. Some were pretty terrible as of yet but he still left them up to remind himself he was still _learning_ , having only taken up photography just last year.. but there were still a couple he felt pretty proud of too. One had a really good shot of a thick-ruffed chocolaty black wolf with a profile that showed just a hint of rare dark and sea green eyes. It was a really beautiful image and the raven haired teen felt incredibly proud to have taken it. It held a special place of honor where it hung just a little ways above the faintly pale teen’s headboard.

 

* * *

 

 

About twenty minutes later, Nico made it to school before the late bell was ready to ring and headed into the gates. He had breakfast with Bianca and then left her to wake up their younger adopted sister while he headed to school by himself. Their family wasn’t large and their parents were never home so it left the three to get themselves up for school and ready for the day on their own. Though when he says ‘parents’ it was more his father and his step mother whom he felt hated him and his two sisters though she never showed it in front of his father, his own mother had died shortly after his fifth birthday about ten or eleven years ago.

He sighed to himself over the thought… as he found himself doing quite often whenever he thought outside his more official family of Bianca and Hazel seeing as they were all generally by themselves and might as well have been living on their own together for the amount he had seen his Father and Persephone. Dashing those thoughts to the side for now, the raven continued inside and made way towards his locker to quickly spin out the combination and gather his books for the morning so he could switch them over after lunch.

As he made his way to class, he felt a hand clap upon his shoulder which had him stop and look up since it firmly held him in place. He barely resisted a groan and lifted a hand to rub at the side of his nose. “What is it, Jason?” He asked, turning his gaze up fully to see the smiling face with a little scar over the corner of the blond male’s lip and friendly blue eyes that held a warmth quite opposite their icy color.

“What? I can’t just say hello?” Smiled the older teen as he lifted his hand off Nico’s shoulder and hooked it into one of the pockets at the side of his stone-washed denim jeans. Jason Grace was a senior in the school who happened to help Nico out one day when his usual invisibility skill hadn’t worked and the raven had found himself faced with a pair of obnoxious bullies that had run out of kids to terrorize and decided to make him their next target. Needless to say, those bullies never bullied anyone again but that event had also gained the anti-social male a highly undesired friendship… and an extra source of unwanted attention the raven had distinctly been trying to avoid.

“No, But you could have waited till lunch or something. I’m going to be late to class.” He pointed out with a distinct frown upon his face that only had the taller male smiling more than before. “Stop smiling so much, It’s creepy.” He muttered, but of course it only made the other male chuckle. His efforts to be anti-social really always seemed to fail against this guy and Nico had long since given up driving him away. But that didn’t mean he couldn’t still try sometimes.

“Alright, Alright. But Nico… you could actually come into the cafeteria to eat lunch sometimes too, alright? I’ve told you before, you could always sit with me and my friends. You don’t have to be alone so much.” Jason stated seriously as his smile lowered, efforts to befriend the raven haired teen a near constant whenever he managed to catch him. The blond was a pretty popular guy, as were his friends, all of them having some form of leadership within the school. Another thing that the shorter generally preferred to avoid though he did know for a fact that Jason and his friends were fairly nice people minus a couple.

“I’ll think about it.” He returned after a few moments, knowing the blond would probably persist a while longer and actually end up making him late for class. Which Nico seriously could do without. That got another smile to the raven’s chagrin before a sigh passed his lips and he pointedly looked towards his classroom door and then returned his gaze back to the blond. “Can I go to class _now_ , Grace? Before I get marked late again because of your unnecessary aggressively friendly offers?” He asked, his use of the elder teen’s last name being used to market his current annoyance at being held up.

“Yeah. Sorry about that Nico. But I just wanted to tell you again, you know? But yeah, see you at lunch?” Jason questioned with a look that made refusing nearly impossible so the shorter teen simply rolled his eyes and turned away towards his classroom door with a wave. “Fine. I’ll eat lunch with you, but it had better be worth it or I’m going back to the library to eat alone. Got it?” He called over his shoulder and didn’t even wait for a response as he disappeared into his classroom just in time.

He could hear the bell ringing through the halls as he made his way over to his seat by the window and sat down as the teacher began the class. He didn’t pay much attention though, instead… he simply opened his notebook and took to doodle in the sidelines as his hand automatically jotted down notes now and then whenever he happened to glance up and see what the teacher was writing down on the board.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's chapter 2, also unbeta'd.

The day dragged on without event for a few more hours and soon enough, lunch came by and Nico was at his locker to put away his morning books so he could grab the money for his lunch and get in line. While he wasn’t a fan of the cafeteria food… he hadn’t had time to pick out what he wanted to be put in a bag lunch to take to school with him so he turned down Bianca’s offer and grabbed some money to use instead. At least it was pizza day, so it wasn’t as terrible as it may have been any other day of the week. He wasn’t much of a fan of American Pizza but the school made it good and it was enough for him right now despite being Italian himself and knowing his home made family pizza could have been the absolute best.

Once he had his food, he turned his gaze through the crowded room until his eyes landed on familiar blond hair. As he had technically promised, the raven started heading towards the table so he could sit with the other. He wasn’t one to go back on his promises after all and a secret of his was that he kind of had a weakness for begging, he just couldn’t refuse half the time unless it was a complete and total stranger or someone he wasn’t particularly close to. Against his regular thoughts and judgment, Jason _was_ actually a pretty close friend of his, despite all his denial and outward expressions.

He sat down then, having reached the table and picking a seat that was at the blond’s table but also a little apart from the rest eating their lunch there. After he was settled, he then looked up and nodded to the others sitting there. There was only five of them including Nico and Jason but there were enough. Next to Jason was Piper, someone whom the raven had placed as the blond’s girlfriend or at least someone pretty damned close to it. She was pretty in a sort of ordinary way, her dark skin and hair greatly complimenting her ever changing eyes which were a small kaleidoscope of different colors that made her stand out amongst other girls… though Nico only observed this in a sort of neutral way.

She was also the president of the animal rights club in school, a group that regularly had sessions to show their reasons and views on vegetarianism and other things involving animals in some shape or form to try pulling other students into their cause. He had a feeling she’d probably like his younger sister, Hazel, as he knew for a fact that while Hazel wasn’t a vegetarian… she did have an intense soft spot for animals of all kinds.

Moving on, next to Piper was Leo. He was another good friend of Jason’s and tended to be a joker sort that liked cracking out jokes at just the right moments and was so hyperactive Nico had to wonder how the other teen ever managed to sit still but a glance to the other’s hands showed he really wasn’t still at all with his hands moving at an impressive speed, seeming to be trying to build something out of pipe-cleaners the other male probably swiped from the art room at some point.

Leo was another dark skinned kid though his complexion seemed much much lighter than Piper’s own. He had crazy curly brownish-black hair that stuck up at various odd angles and friendly yet mischievous brown eyes that warned against letting your guard down whenever alone with the guy. But he was pretty friendly at least and easy to get along with once you got used to the jokes too. He was also the president of the Robotics club, something that really seemed to fit him if Nico was being honest.

After Leo was the last person at Jason’s table, Jason’s sister Thiala Grace. The two didn’t really _look_ like siblings all that much unless you took notice of their faces and took in the mild similarities between the two but that was where the resemblances stopped for the most part. For a better description, Thiala was the complete reverse of Jason in almost every way. She had short black hair with a couple blue streaks here and there and her eyes… though blue like Jason’s… were deeper and cooler than the blond’s. They didn’t hold the same warmth his did.

Where Jason wore casual clothes you’d see on a jock or someone popular, Thiala wore clothes that were more punk in style but they looked good on her, she made the entire outfit work in the best way possible. Nico almost found himself jealous of it as her style was actually similar to his own, though his was more gothic than punk. Thiala was in the same club as Piper as well as the president of her own club, a club for equality for everyone no matter their gender, race, or sexual orientation. Nico thought she was pretty cool, kind of even looking up to her as he’d come to know her. She was also a year older than the rest of them but she left school for a while and ended up having to repeat her senior year if she wanted to graduate. Which she did, surprisingly. It seemed she might have a goal in mind that required her to graduate and despite her looks, Thiala was pretty responsible and smarter than a lot of people you generally see.

After his glance around the table, Nico turned to start on his food while listening to the conversations going on around him once the greetings were all out of the way. The only time he glanced up was when Jason said his name to catch his attention. “So Nico, how have your pictures been coming along?” He asked and caused the raven to startle before he remembered he’d been on the way to the black room to develop his latest photography escapades when Jason had saved him from the bullies. “Ah… it’s coming along fine. I plan on going out after school to see if I can get some better ones of some of the pictures from the last batch…”

He trailed off and focused his gaze on his food again, kind of feeling a little uncomfortable talking about his hobbies with someone as he hadn’t done anything of the like before. “Good Luck, mind if I ask to see them later when you have them all developed?” Jason asked while trying to be friendly and including the raven in their conversations. He didn’t seem to like leaving him out after all… and he appeared to want his own friends to become Nico’s friends too. Nico hesitated slightly before picking at his pizza and considering if he should or not before deciding there probably wouldn’t be much harm… “Yeah… I suppose that’s ok.” He agreed and quickly finished his food so he could stand and get ready to leave. “Um… I need to get the rest of my stuff for the day now. See you later.” A nod was aimed towards the others at the table before the shorter beat a quick escape once he was rid of his tray and headed towards his locker to get his books.

Once he was out of the cafeteria, Nico slowed and walked evenly towards his locker with a breath of relief he spun out his combination and opened it up. He didn’t dislike being around Jason’s friends but the cafeteria and things in general kind of made him a little uncomfortable being in there. It was too loud, he couldn’t ever really hear himself think… and he liked to think a lot. So really… loudly crowded places and Nico never really mixed. Thoughts aside, he looked to the clock to check how much time was left before his class and found he had about a free fifteen minutes to go drop into the library to see if they had anything interesting for him to take home today.

With that goal in mind, Nico then grabbed his books… slammed his locker shut… and made a beeline for his favorite place in the school.

 

* * *

 

Once there, the raven headed straight towards the supernatural section to see if anything caught his interest there today. He made a habit of alternating his literary quests, taking turns every other day to swap between fantasy and supernatural fiction to be sure his tastes remained even and never dipped more towards one or the other. He found he really liked both after all... and they made him pretty happy to escape the real world for a little while. It was nice.

He ended up finding two books that captured his interest, both of the werewolf variety which he greatly enjoyed. None of that vampire shit for him, he always thought of it in a bad taste. It never really _sat_ well with him in all honesty. He just couldn’t get the appeal, it just seemed… weird. But maybe that was just all the romance troupes applied to fiction like that… plus the genre had some pretty bad advertisement series. Excuse him, but sparkling vampires really weren’t the scariest thing he could picture… and Nico liked his vampires _scary_. If he were to read about Vampires at all that is.

 

* * *

 

 

Thirteen minutes later, Nico was once again entering his classroom and sat in a seat close to the back and near the window. Again, he was doodling in his notebook’s sidelines while taking down a couple of notes and only half paying attention to what the teacher was talking about. Wash, Rinse, and Repeat, this was how his school day went the rest of the time until the final bell had rung and announced he was free to leave and head home to get his camera for more photography practice.


	3. Chapter 3

It wasn’t long after school let out that he was in and out of his home with a call to Hazel that he was going out and to tell Bianca he wasn’t going to be back till late due to wanting to practice more. What he got in return was a small smile and a ‘be safe’ before he was out the door with a small bag containing a snack, some water, his sketch pad, pencils, and his camera lenses where the camera itself was hanging at the raven’s neck. It wasn’t a cheap camera but it was something he had requested for Christmas this past year and ended up getting it as a present. So he put it to good use.

Soon enough, he was at a small park that was bordered on one side by a long stretch of trees. Idly, he mused if he might come across that one wolf again… or maybe one of the others he had seen around him one time when he had forgotten his camera. It was a pretty amazing experience. Around maybe five or six wolves counting his favorite, though he was probably lucky they hadn’t seen or scented him. While he believed wolves weren’t as dangerous as they’re made out to be, he did know they were wild animals and something to be wary around. If he recalled right… most were black or brown but one had been more creamy gold than brown. Either way, he wondered if he could take a picture of the rest this time.

After a few hours, it was clear he wasn’t going to have much luck here. He did think he heard a fight or something going on when he first entered the woods but he didn’t think too much about it, since it seemed pretty common around here anyway. Another hour later, he finished his photography run and headed out to sit on a swing to skim through what he took of the plants and other animals around to see how much he may have improved since last time. Somewhat absorbed in his skimming, he didn’t immediately notice some branches breaking behind him until the sound of something breaking through the trees had him turn in surprise.

He had several moments of blinking at what he saw there… it was a boy who seemed to be about three years older than him and something about him had him seem… almost familiar, though he’d never seen the other guy once in his entire life. He was definitely somewhere around a head taller than himself, had shaggy dark hair that seemed to catch between black and brown, his form really wasn’t all that bad either from what he could see through a torn orange t-shirt that seemed like it hadn’t been washed in a while. What was most captivating though… was the older teen’s eyes. They were the same shade of green that his favorite wolf’s were and the expression in them was almost chilling with how dark they looked at the moment.

Caught by the sight, Nico almost missed how the other male seemed to stumble and had trouble keeping upright on his feet which suddenly alarmed the shorter male when he took notice that one of the other’s arms seemed to be badly injured and he noted there also seemed to be a little blood seeping into the t-shirt from the side as well. “Uh--“ Hesitating and not wanting to startle the dark haired male any, Nico stood from his seat on the swing and moved towards the other slightly. “Um… Hi… er…” He stammered before jumping slightly as those eyes focused instantly on his face and seemed to harden with distrust but before the older teen could say anything, he suddenly collapsed on the ground and seemed to have fallen unconscious.

Now Nico was pretty sure he should have called an ambulance or something for a case like this but a small feeling with taking in how the other had just come out of the woods like he had… told him that he shouldn’t let that happen as it would end very badly if he did. So without any better ideas, he took out his phone and called Bianca for help seeing as she was the one in possession of a license and a car where he just had himself alone. He was pretty sure he wouldn’t be able to carry this guy home and he knew his sister would understand if he told her he got the feeling that the unconscious male before him and hospitals would end up as a very very bad mix.

 

* * *

 

 

Another while later and Nico was home with the mysterious raven settled into a mostly empty area of his room. Despite the distrust he saw in the other male’s eyes before he passed out, the shorter felt like it would be better that he try patching him up rather than one of his sisters as at least the other teen had seen him before he passed out. Being careful, he went through and started cleaning off the injury in the older’s arm. It seemed like some kind of _bite_ from something though he couldn’t determine what it could have belonged to. What relieved him was… the injury didn’t look as bad as what it appeared when he first saw it so that was a really good thing in the younger raven’s opinion.

Once he finished bandaging the other’s arm, he shifted and carefully lifted away the tattered shirt so he could look at the wound in his side as well. Trying not to pay attention to the well-toned and naked chest in front of his face, Nico worked on cleaning off the injury which also seemed to not be quite as bad as he feared it might have been when he first saw it. Wrapping that up, he stood and leaned back to observe his work. It wasn’t bad at least… not perfect but not completely terrible so he believed it to be an accomplishment. Now it was time to sit and wait for the mysterious guy to awake… and to hope he wouldn’t attack him or anything when he did. So with nothing better to do, he climbed back up onto his bed… took his seat against his pillows and backboard… and set out to continue reading his book.

Maybe it could even serve as something helpful once the other woke up? No one could possibly want to attack someone as non-threatening as a small guy reading a book… right? At least he hoped that would be true.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There you have it, three chapters to read through and concider over if you guys want to hear more or not.
> 
> Who is that Mysterious Teen? The world may never know~
> 
> But I'm sure you can guess.
> 
> Let me know through comments if you enjoy this enough for me to continue it!


	4. Chapter 4

As it turned out, the mysterious teen was unconscious well into the next morning and as luck would have it… Nico ended up not having any school the next day either. Something about some pipes breaking and flooding the school overnight so everyone ended up with a three day weekend this weekend. It was definitely something he was happy about as he probably would have skipped school today anyway considering the guy in his bedroom was something he’d rather see to himself as opposed to letting one of his sisters doing it instead. Bianca and Hazel already made plans anyway so with a promise to call the police if anything went wrong… the raven was left alone with his patient.

While waiting, Nico opted to start making himself some breakfast with eggs, sausage, bacon, and several other tasty things that he could mix together for a perfect breakfast. But after a few minutes, the smell wafting back through the house… the raven heard a disturbance from his room and lowered the heat on everything to go check what was going on and to see if it might have been his guest waking up. Which it turned out to be for sure… so being completely careful, the raven headed into the room quietly and held up his hands in a surrendering motion to show he didn’t mean any harm when the dark haired male turned to quickly look at him.

“Uh…, hi again. Look, before you ah… f-flip out or something. You kind of collapsed and were bleeding a lot. I felt like you shouldn’t be sent to a hospital though it was my first instinct to do so. So, instead, I called my sister and brought you to my house to bandage you up and everything. I kind of didn’t know what else to do… s-so don’t kill me or anything, alright? I just was trying to help you…” He stated quickly, hands still held in front of him while the other guy just _stared_. It was kind of creepy if he was being honest. “Um… What’s your name by the way? Mine’s Nico, Nico di Angelo” He offered up a minute later when the taller raven was still just staring at him… like he was having a hard time processing what he was saying or something.  A few more minutes and the shorter started to frown when he still didn’t get a response.

“…Do you not speak English or something?” He asked after the silence was getting kind of ridiculous with how long it was stretching between them. This seemed to snap the other teen from whatever had been going on in his head while Nico had been talking. “Uh, Yeah. I speak it, sorry.” Stated the other male as he cleared his throat and took a look around the shorter’s room. He seemed to be startled or surprised by something he saw but Nico wasn’t paying enough attention to see what it was. This guy seemed like he hadn’t talked to someone in a long time or close to that. His voice was gruff and halting, like he was having a hard time forming actual words. But at least he’d gotten him to _talk_. Shifting his position a little, Nico glanced back towards the kitchen out his door and then looked back to the older male again. “Are you hungry or anything…? You’ve kind of been… passed out all night.” He added before awkwardly twisting a ring he always wore on his right hand. It was the only piece of jewelry he wore or even owned and was the only gift from his father he’d received before his step-mom took him away from them.

“Oh. Sure.” A nod from the other male who seemed to have deemed Nico no threat and therefore worth being a little friendlier to before he appeared to be waiting on the other teen to lead the way. This brought a bit of a shrug to Nico’s shoulders before he turned around and went back into the kitchen to add some more eggs, bacon, and sausage to what he was cooking in order to make enough for two. “So… what’s your name?” He asked after another minute seeing as his previous effort to get a name had fallen through. “Ah, yeah. Right, um… Percy. Percy Jackson.” Stated the other male and the raven gave a nod before cataloguing the name into his mind to use whenever he saw the other now. “Percy, got it. Is that short for something?” Nico inquired as it didn’t seem like a standalone name to him. “Mmn, it’s short for Perseus.” That had the younger teen blink a little, wasn’t that… “Isn’t that a name for some famous Greek hero or something?” He questioned, looking back in surprise and a bit of curiosity.

 “Uh… I wouldn’t know. It’s just a name my parents gave me, I’m not really all that familiar with…” and here Percy seemed to hesitate, like he was going to say something he thought he shouldn’t. “Never mind.” That only made him a bit more curious, but regardless, he wasn’t one to pry into anything so he didn’t ask. So with a faint shrug, Nico returned to making the food. “So… can I ask what got you so injured last night?” He added over his shoulder and he got the sense that Percy tensed behind him. “Uh… you don’t have to say if you don’t want to. I was just curious.” He mumbled, poking at the sausage a bit and feeling the air relax after that statement. “Yeah. Sorry, I’d rather not talk about it.” Percy replied before he came closer to inspect what Nico was making. “What’s that?” He heard him ask which had the shorter turning his head to look at him quizzically.  “Sausage…? Bacon…? Eggs…? Are you not familiar with this stuff or…?” He asked after a minute, wondering if Percy lived with vegetarians or something. “Oh… right… ok. No, I’m just…” The older teen seemed to be searching for some kind of excuse or something which led Nico to believe he’s met someone very… peculiar.

“Whatever…” Muttered the younger teen with a shake of his head as he flipped the eggs to be sure they cooked evenly. “Don’t… worry about answering stuff you don’t want to. You’re kind of… unusual… but it’s not like I’m going to judge you or anything.” He stated after a minute and dumping half the food into one plate before putting the other half into another. After that, he wandered over to set everything on the table and then went to get drinks. “Do you want anything to drink? We have… Milk, Water, or Juice.” He continued, looking over at Percy again for a minute or two until the other teen responded. “Water is fine.” A nod to show he heard before pouring himself juice and filling a glass with water from the tap to set it in front of the other teen softly. It was then they both settled into the food with silence.

Once they finished their food, Nico carried both plates up to the sink and began to wash them. He was surprised to hear Percy speak up a moment later. “So… you take pictures?” He asked while startling the younger raven with the fact he was able to tell. “Ah, yeah. All those pictures in my room… I took them myself.” He returned which prompted another question from the elder teen. “So you go into the woods a lot?” Was asked which had Nico turning to face him. “Yeah. I like taking pictures of the flowers and trees and animals and things… it’s… more interesting than just taking pictures of the streets and stuff.” He returned and saw Percy nodding, whether it was to himself or to what Nico said… he didn’t know.

“Why do you ask?” He added after a minute or two. “Oh, I was just curious…” He then seemed to want to ask something else but it seemed he decided against it as he started asking about other things a minute later.

 

* * *

 

The afternoon continued on like that and into the evening when his sisters returned. Percy being a nice enough gentleman with introducing himself and apologizing for the trouble to which the three of him told him it wasn’t any trouble at all. It then came time to where Percy was getting ready to leave, stating his family was probably beginning to worry and he should probably leave. To say Nico wasn’t a little disappointed, though for reasons unknown even to himself, would be somewhat of a lie. But none-the-less, they all said their goodbyes and Percy left them to their own devices. It was only later on in the night that Nico found himself he never asked where the other lived… and found himself disappointed he didn’t either as well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alrighty! So, Surprise Update Yay! Heres the final details. My updates for this fic are going to range from anywhere between being posted on Wednesdays to Sundays. 
> 
> Updates will also come as one or two chapters per week.
> 
> Promise it'll be worth the wait if you hit one of the single chapter weeks, I swear.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Swear I'm probably going to go through and clean these up, add summaries for chapters and possibly chapter titles when I get inspired to do so. But please enjoy!

Several weeks had passed and Nico had come to be used to random visits from Percy. The older male seeming to have gotten interested in his photography and after the first few times happened to catch the shorter raven sketching in his back yard too so he was also pretty interested in that as well to Nico’s great surprise. In a way… the interest kind of reminded him of Jason and the younger male was lead to wonder what about him kept attracting unusual people to him where he tried his hardest to not be noticed. At least the visits were pretty interesting. Percy never mentioned things about his family or where he lived but he did have a wide range of hobbies and interests that the shorter raven found himself pretty intrigued in learning so much about the other male with so few subjects.

In those weeks, Nico had also gradually allowed Jason to finally make ‘friend’ status to the point where he let the blond male come and visit him to help with a project they ended up being partnered on in a sort of… inter-grade project for one of their classes. Something about younger students being able to learn more from the older students in the school or at least that’s what it seemed like. He wasn’t complaining though, the project had him starting to learn about Jason himself too. He found that Hobbies and likes and dislikes were the main conversation drivers with the blond too, much like Percy as he had reflected on earlier.

Feeling like it might be awkward if he had Jason over at a point where Percy was likely to come and visit… he made sure to invite the blond to his house the day after one of the other raven’s visits. He never seemed to come two days in a row so the teen thought it’d be good to have him over by then. It was weird though… as soon as they approached his house, Jason seemed to freeze for several moments. Confused, Nico watched as the older male looked all around them a few times with an odd look on his face. “Jason…?” He questioned and waited a moment or two before repeating himself in a slightly louder voice. “Jason!” He exclaimed and had the blond’s attention finally snap back to him. “Huh? What? Oh, Sorry about that. It’s nothing.”

Nico watched him for several moments while the older teen just smiled at him with a hint of awkwardness. A sigh and a shift to transfer the strap of his backpack to his other shoulder; the shorter shrugged and waved for Jason to follow him into the house. He was glad his sisters were busy today too… or else they might start teasing him about having so many guys over later on when Jason left. Something he also could really do without… though it was no secret among the three of them that Nico was very much not into those of the female persuasion and generally preferred those much taller than him with strong arms and toned chests.

As soon as they got inside, however, it was very very clear there was something extremely wrong with the blond as he _again_ stopped dead and began to shift his gaze around the house with a hard frown across his lips. “Nico…” Jason began before he appeared to decide what he wanted to ask wasn’t what he really wanted to ask after all. “Never mind.” Now it was Nico’s turn to frown, staring up at the taller male with a mildly frustrated expression with all the stopping and stuff before he sighed and hoped he wasn’t going to do this in every single room he enters. He couldn’t tell what the problem was and it kind of irritated him.

“So what are we going to do for this?” He asked, taking a seat in front of the living room coffee table while digging into his backpack to pull out the assignment and spread out the papers over to skim through them so he knows what exactly was needed for the project to get a good grade for them both. “Uh… why don’t you decide, Nico?” Jason returned and finally stopped acting so high strung while they were getting down to the task at hand. Eventually, they decided on a subject that would detail Nico to do photographic examples and Jason to do most of the writing though the raven wouldn’t have minded needing to do half rather than the two paragraphs the blond had told him would be his responsibility.

 

* * *

 

 

They spent most of the afternoon working on the essentials for the project but the time came when Nico’s sisters arrived home and Jason excused himself to head on home himself while saying he had an important family meeting after his family had dinner so he couldn’t stay. The raven didn’t mind this at least considering how much teasing he would have gotten if the blond _had_ stayed for dinner. So bidding Jason goodbye with a wave and a fierce look towards his sisters as if to say ‘Don’t you dare even _start_ with me tonight’ before he shifted and headed into his bedroom to get ready for dinner. To say the least, he wasn’t happy to hear the giggles and conspiring whispers from the kitchen as soon as he was out of sight that told him… as usual… his sisters simply would not listen to his warnings and he could expect the teasing to start as soon as they all sat down for dinner. ‘ _Just Perfect…_ ’ He thought to himself with a sigh and a shake of his head. His sisters were extremely lucky he was intensely fond of the two of them… otherwise he would have made them regret even considering to tease him about **boys** of all things.

 

* * *

 

 

“So…” Bianca began with a little smile playing about her lips “Who was _that_?” She questioned as the smile became a grin which was mirrored by their younger sister. “A friend from school…” Nico returned bluntly because he had to face it, Jason and Percy had both become good friends of his over the last few weeks. “Are you sure about that?” Asked Hazel, with her head tilted just a little and a gently teasing tone present in her voice. “ ** _Yes_**.” He returned with a heavy emphasis that left no room for argument. “Just like Percy is. Now stop acting so…” He couldn’t come up with a good word so he just shook his head with a grunt. He could return to the thought later, for now… he distinctly refused to respond to either of his sisters as he dug into the meal. Though really… the two could tell he was only _pretending_ to be such a grump whenever such uncomfortable subjects popped up. “Just eat before our food gets cold.” He added a few minutes later in a low mumble which received a small chorus of “Fine, Alright, We’ll stop.” But both made it clear they weren’t finished with him completely just yet. Nico just groaned and went back to ignoring them.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay! So touching back on the updates, I'm going to leave a couple of fic recommendations here for you guys to tide you over as well.
> 
> If you find the week too long and my updates too short... I recommend, if you have not already, that you guys check out some of these other cool writers that I'm currently hooked on and feel all kinds of respect for.
> 
> Top Choice:
> 
> House of the Wicked: The Thirteen Devils and Children of Loss by a writer I have endless respect for, sonofhades. Trust me, his fics are _marvelous_ and super long too. (Pairings are scattered but I promise he makes them work, both are mainly Percico)
> 
> Waves Carry Us Away by SlusherM_221B (Percico)
> 
> The Murder Suspect by CareleeAidson (Jasico)
> 
> That One Time by painteddread (Jasico)
> 
> Still in the Running by Betsib (Jasico)
> 
> and then one really amazing completed fic:
> 
> Trigger Warning by silktaildwarf (Jercy)
> 
> I've got several more but then this ending note would get far too long xD but yeah, I promise those work wonders when waiting on stuff to come out, let me tell you.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The boys return, and Nico can sing.

As it happened to turn out, Nico did not see Jason or even _Percy_ again for one or two weeks after the former had left for his home Friday night. It was unusual and had the raven curious to see that the elder had disappeared for such a long time. He’d gotten used to the green-eyed teen’s visits and almost found himself even _missing_ him a little bit. Jason on the other hand, along with Thiala, Leo, and Piper had an unusual habit of disappearing from the school for a little while at least once a month. He’d given up being curious after it happened several times and the teachers never even seemed to notice the quartet had gone missing. If he’d been paying closer attention though… he might have noticed it always happened the week of a full moon, which was pretty odd in itself if anyone really thought about it.

Over that time Jason was away, the raven had finished off his portion of their assignment and hoped the blond had finished his own as well. They were due that day in school after all. So spotting him in the halls, Nico went to _Jason_ rather than Jason needing to come to _him_ as he really had to be sure the other male was finished. To his relief, the blond **had** done his part of the work even when he wasn’t in school. Before leaving the other to his own business… the raven happened to notice Jason was limping a little but when he lifted his gaze back to the other’s head to say something… he found the blond was already out of earshot. He frowned but a look at the clock told him he should be getting to class so he simply sighed and planned to ask about it at lunch later.

 

* * *

 

 

Lunch turned out to be uneventful as well. Nico tried to ask about the limp but Jason kept saying it was nothing and told the younger teen not to worry so much about it. So with a light sigh, he took a seat and wondered what the four before him had been doing the last week as it was clear they weren’t going to provide anything despite him having become kind of sort-of friends with the rest of them as well but he was still only the most comfortable with Jason himself… he just felt sort of too awkward to call them his friends exactly… well… with the exception of Thiala. She and Jason were the ones who were really the easiest to talk with; he had some things in common with the two where Leo and Piper were just… Leo and Piper.  He didn’t really know how to explain it, it was just—he had nothing in common with them.

It was to his relief once more that the end of lunch bell came and when as he excused himself to go to his locker and switch his books over. Idly, he wondered when he might see Percy again… thinking maybe since Jason was back, he’d pop up again too. He didn’t know why but he just got the feeling the two might be connected somehow, as weird as that may be. Plus… the fact Jason was injured just stuck out to him for some reason. Either way, he sort of hoped for the school day to come to a swift end and for his next classes to fly by despite knowing they’ll probably simply crawl after he thought that wish. Oh well, at least there weren’t too many and they were fun when they wanted to be.

 

* * *

 

 

Once he got home, Nico was mildly disappointed to not see any trace of Percy. With a light sigh he decide to go get his sketch pad and sit on the back steps of their house to draw whatever he sees moving through the woods in their back yard. The area behind the playground was the only place you could actually _get_ into the forest but the surrounding homes all had fencing at the back that lined the woods to keep wild animals from intruding into their yards. As soon as he was comfortable, he leaned back and began to sing while he sketched. It was a song from one of his favorite bands, a really good band too. One from his home country if not the same area he was from, it was pretty interesting to say the least.

 

_\--_

_Oh life, it's bigger_

_It's bigger than you_

_And you are not me_

_The lengths that I will go to_

_The distance in your eyes_

_(The distance in your eyes)_

_Oh no, I've said too much_

_I set it up_

_(I've set it up)_

_\--_

He hummed out and began on a picture from memory. As he worked, he really wasn’t paying too much attention to what he was sketching. He was more focused on glancing to the woods and singing than he was on his picture, it was a bit of a special skill he sort of developed without really trying to. He just got an image in his mind and his hands did the rest.

_\--_

_Every whisper_

_Of every waking hour_

_I'm choosing my confessions_

_Trying to keep an eye on you_

_Like a hurt lost and blinded fool_

_Oh no I've said too much_

_I set it up_

_\--_

Slowly, the picture took form. An eye formed at first, then a muzzle and ears, gracing neck and down to the edge of the page. Another ear made and appearance before the texturing and details came in. The eye took on a wolfish kind of look while the muzzle gained a mouth with just the slightest hint of fangs underneath whiskered lips. A sweep of a strong looking chest also formed before that dropped off the edge of the page as well.

_\--_

_I thought that I heard you laughing_

_I thought that I heard you sing_

_I think I thought I saw you try_

_But that was just a dream_

_Try, cry, why_

_That was just a dream, just a dream, just a dream_

_\--_

Once he finished singing, he also finished sketching the picture and stared at it in mild surprise. It was a profile of his favorite wolf… all he needed to do was get his colored pencils to fill in the proper eye color and maybe use a little brown to fill out the body and he had something resembling the picture that hung above his headboard. Shaking his head lightly he flipped a page and was about to start another song when he jumped upon noticing Percy beside him all of a sudden. He wasn’t there while he was drawing… “God friking-- damnit Percy!” He exclaimed before trying to stop his heart from jumping out of his chest from the mild scare he just had. “W-why didn’t you say anything?!” He questioned with a bit of a scowl since he really wasn’t happy to be frightened like that.

“Sorry, Neeks” Percy grinned out before taking a seat on the steps beside the younger teen. “Hold on a minute. Since _when_ did you decide to call me something like that?” Nico asked with a frown, not entirely sure he liked the other giving him such a random nickname… or even a nickname at _all_. “Mm? Oh. I just got the feeling it could fit you? You can call me ‘Perce’ if you want to. If it’d make it less weird or something” Was the other raven’s reply accompanied by a casual shrug. “Percy… I’ve barely known you for _four weeks_ what suddenly brought on nicknames and things?” Nico responded, not mentioning the fact the other male had pretty much entirely disappeared for at least two of them… “What, you don’t like it then?” The older asked instead, not seeming to want to come up with a reason why.

Nico could have growled at that, _what was it with people and refusing to give him answers about anything today?_ He sighed faintly and closed his eyes while letting the back of his head hit against the back door as he slumped in mild defeat. “You alright, Neeks?” He heard Percy ask before he sighed again. “Just perfect Percy. Just perfect… My friend refuses to say anything about how he got hurt at lunch today and now _you’re_ dodging answers too.” He mumbled low before opening his eyes and looking towards the older teen a moment. That was strange… Percy seemed kind of… high strung all of the sudden. “Percy…?” He asked in faint confusion but the other teen seemed to ignore him. “Percy!” He repeated, tone louder than the first in the exact same way he had to get Jason’s attention just one or two weeks ago. “Huh? Oh, sorry. It’s nothing!” Nico just groaned and closed his eyes again in faint exasperation.

He could almost feel the apologetic look Percy was probably aiming at him right now. “I really mean it, Nico. Don’t worry, ok? It was nothing.” He could only sigh. “It’s fine I guess… it’s not like you’re really going to say what’s on your mind anyway… right?” The raven added before sitting up and squinting towards the sky. “Hey Nico?” He looked back over at Percy with a bit of a questioning look. “What were you drawing..? While you were singing?” The other asked and caused Nico to startle a little. “W-what?! You… you heard me?” He asked, feeling a little self-conscious since the shorter _never_ sang in front of people. Not even his sisters have heard him, so to think _Percy_ had heard him… well that was a shock.

“Uh, sorry. I kind of just… Accidentally heard you while I was about to knock. I didn’t mean to.” Percy stated while looking a little awkward at the panicked and surprised look on the shorter’s face. “It’s… um… fine. I just… don’t normally sing in front of people.” Was explained as Nico tentatively turned the page back over so he could show Percy the sketch. He felt a bit of surprise when he noticed the look of shock on Percy’s face at the sight but it was gone so fast the shorter raven thought he may have imagined it. When it seemed the other had recovered from something, rather than ask about the sketch some more as Nico expected him to… the other raven instead responded to the earlier comment the shorter had stated. “Why…?” Percy asked with a curious expression.

“What…?” He blinked, not sure if he understood the other’s question at first. “Why don’t you sing in front of people? You’ve got a really great voice you know.” Nico wasn’t sure why he blushed at that but he did and turned his expression away to hide it. “I don’t know… I just… don’t. The thought doesn’t appeal to me. I don’t like attracting a lot of attention to myself. Nothing good ever really comes from it.” He continued, lowering his head some and playing with his ring a little bit. He could tell Percy was about to ask another question but Nico simply shook his head and rose from the steps. “Come on, you came to visit. Right? So let’s go inside.”

He stated and showed the subject was solidly closed. Percy just frowned and turned to follow him into the house, asking no farther for today since it was obvious the shorter male wasn’t going to answer him anyway. Think of it as his own little personal revenge against Percy’s secrecy as well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, here we are at the end of chapter Six! I think its one of the longer chapters I've written so I hope you enjoyed it.
> 
> The song Nico sang was a cover done by an Italian Gothic Metal band. I recommend you guys check em out. 
> 
> Lacuna Coil rocks I swear.
> 
> Anyway, Comments and Reviews are appreciated, since I like knowing if you guys still like it or I'm boring you with it.
> 
> Let me know what you think, and chapter has yet to be beta'd so any mistakes are mine and mine alone.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A camping trip comes up and Nico is steadily getting used to being around people who like having him around.

Nico was humming today. After a few hours of Percy hanging out with him yesterday he woke up with a bit of a better mood than the previous week. After all, his two ‘friends’ had finally decided to show up and whether he wanted to admit it or not… he came to like spending time with the two somewhat mysterious people in his life. As luck would have it, he once again had a point where he would probably be spending a copious amount of time with Jason once more over the weekend. While he had yet to spend any real time with either male over the weekend as of yet (Percy never came on the Weekends and he had yet to hang out with Jason on any day between Friday afternoon and Monday Night), He was almost curious about possibly spending two full days around the blond. It was another school thing, some sort of camping trip to once more; strengthen the bond between the Seniors and Freshmen so they had a ‘guidance’ to doing well in school or something. Nico didn’t really understand it much but whatever it was, it wasn’t _that_ bad of an idea at least.

It was to happen that Friday, the freshmen only needing their parent’s signed permission… which Nico was happy he was able to get after staying up late enough to catch his father before he disappeared for the rest of the week. Next he needed to alert his sisters that he was going on a sort of camping trip with his school to which they told him to have fun. His sisters didn’t go to the same school he did, preferring an all girl’s school their father enrolled them into, but the two had fun so Nico was okay with that. Now all he needed to do… was to wait for Friday to come. He wasn’t exactly sure but he believed only Thalia and Jason would be on this up-coming trip as he thought Piper and Leo were somewhere between Sophomores or Juniors so they had their own trip to take in another few weeks. At least it was Tuesday already, so it didn’t leave too many days left till the trip…

 

* * *

 

 

Come lunch time, Nico decided to ask Jason about him and Thalia going on the trip. He was curious on what they might plan to do and thought he might just stick around them if they didn’t mind… seeing as they were the only ‘friends’ the raven had made in the entire school year so far. He didn’t believe in the necessity of more really. Plus..., as he had mused earlier… (Though with a wider stretch of people this time), Nico had very little in common with about 99% of the students in school. They just didn’t share much in common with him, and he didn’t really want to anyway. He preferred a smaller and closer group of friends so the few he hung out with were plenty enough in his opinion. He wasn’t a sociable person after all, it’s just how it was.

Soon enough, he had his food and made his way towards the table with the quartet though it appeared Thalia might be late today seeing as he didn’t see her at the table like usual. So once he was seated, Nico turned his gaze to Jason questioningly “Where’s Thalia today?” He asked and received a shake of the blond’s head in return. “She’s absent; she had some trouble so she ended up staying out of school today.” Was supplied and the raven felt more curious as to what might have happened. “Is she sick?” A hesitant expression seemed to flit over Jason’s face before it quickly retreated. “Sort of..? She kind of wasn’t feeling well in general so I guess that could be something to call it. But don’t worry, she’s fine.”

Nico couldn’t help frowning a little to hear she wasn’t well but… at least she was ok. “Ah, Jason? What are you planning for the trip this weekend?” He stated, remembering what he had wanted to ask in the first place. “Huh?” The blond appeared confused “The Field Trip, Camping over the weekend. Freshmen and Seniors are going? Or are you and Thalia not going…?” He questioned, feeling a little disappointed over the possibility that Jason might not be going from the look that was slowly creeping over the elder’s face. “Ah… Right… yeah. Sorry Ni—“ The blond cut off as the shorter’s expression shifted without his notice, becoming a sort of sulking look or something similar. But he couldn’t really help it even if he had noticed it, Jason and Thalia were the only ones he really knew… and he honestly would prefer not to be on a trip like that with absolutely no one he really knew that well. It made him uncomfortable.

A moment later, Jason coughing a bit had the raven look up at him again in question. “Actually, yeah. I’ll be going, Thalia isn’t but…” He offered a smile to get the shorter to do so in return, it pretty much failed but Nico was kind of happy to have at least _one_ person he knew there, otherwise he probably would have skipped it himself even though he wanted to go. As stated before, he felt uncomfortable just being around a bunch of people he _barely_ knew. If Jason went then he’d probably be likely to enjoy himself more. “Really…? But weren’t you saying…” The raven trailed off a bit, glancing away before looking up at the taller again. “I was. But I can’t leave you hanging, you know? I can see you really want to go, Nico. You can’t hide it from me.” At this, the blond _dared_ to show a little grin which had the shorter sputter and grumble but he was still a little happy by the news.

 

* * *

 

 

After school, Nico was surprised to find Percy waiting for him on the front steps of his house. He had to stop and blink a little from the sight as Percy _never_ came by before the raven even got home from school, let alone come earlier than around five pm or so. “Uh… Hey Percy… Y-you’re kind of early.” He stated while looking mildly bemused over the fact. “Uh, Yeah… I just finished my usual… uh…” Percy paused, seeming to be searching for some word to describe what he’d been doing. “Stuff… Early. Where have you been?” He questioned a moment later, looking curious. “Er… School, Percy.” He stated, staring at the other raven a little. “Do you not have school yourself…?” Was added a moment later after a little consideration over the fact. “Ah, yeah… I’m…” Another pause where it seemed the taller male was trying to think of a word. “Homeschooled…” Nico hadn’t thought of that… “Homeschooled…? What’s that like?” He asked after a moment, looking curious. “Um… I don’t know how to really describe it, Neeks. But I guess it’s probably pretty different.”

“Oh… Ok. Ah… by the way. I’m not going to be home till Sunday night after Thursday this week. My… class has a camping trip that I’m going to be going on” As he figured Percy usually comes to visit for him; though he _could_ be mistaken he didn’t believe he was. “Oh, Really?” Percy returned and seemed particularly interested in the information. “Yeah. It’s going to be in the forest a little ways from town but it’s… like a state campground.” He added, not entirely sure why but figured he might as well provide that stretch of information. “I see…” The older raven seemed to be a little bothered about that but if anyone were to ask Nico why… he really couldn’t tell.

The shorter was about to ask if anything was wrong but before he could, Percy gave him a smile and brightened up to a point where again… the shorter raven was questioning if he just imagined the change in mood. “Well, have fun on your trip then. Alright, Neeks? Be sure to be really careful too. You never know what’s in the woods.” The warning seemed oddly serious coming from the other male but Nico nodded none-the-less. “I will, I already intended to. You don’t have to worry too much about me, Percy. I _do_ know how to take care of myself, you know.” Percy just laughed then. “I know. I just wanted to be sure, you know?” The shorter could only shake his head and roll his eyes a little. Yeah… he had some good friends already like this… he was fine with then. “Come on Percy, you want inside right?” He added as he pushed passed the older teen and sort of brushed their shoulders a little. He felt a small **jolt** with the contact and blinked a bit, a quizzical expression crossing his face before he shook his head and unlocked the door to let Percy follow him inside.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments are Appreciated!
> 
> Please let me know if I miss some mistakes here and there, I have yet to go through these chapters with a friend who's kind enough to beta for me. And we're both busy with school but little comments are helpful in the meantime!
> 
> I might not be updating for a week or two after this but it's only due to finishing up some school work and trying to write more on this fic. Currently at Fifteen chapters! So hopefully I can extend that soon. 
> 
> Two chapters today btw!


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Camping Trip Time!

Soon enough, the week had passed and Friday approached. Nico had packed his sketchpad and camera alongside some extra clothes and other things he may need for a three day camping trip. That morning he put the finish touches on what he was bringing before giving both his sisters a kiss on the cheek to say good bye. Hazel had specially woken up to see him off so he also kissed the top of her head and smiled while rolling his eyes at Bianca’s little expression of offence over their younger sister getting extra. “Stop pretending, Bee.” He stated, calling her by his childhood nickname for her while they were growing up with just the two of them together. Hazel had joined the family about two or three years ago but she also had a small nickname of her own so she just smiled at the exchange. “Still unfair, Neke.” The elder returned with a small laugh at the younger raven’s expression, he didn’t like his nickname as much as Bianca and Hazel liked theirs but he let them get away with it simply because they were his sisters.

“I was thinking of giving you an extra one when I got home, Bee, but I’m not now thanks to that.” He stated, playful expression clearly deeming that as a lie and Bianca knew it. She just rolled her eyes in return. “I’m going to hold that to you anyways now, Neke. Now get going or you’re going to be _late_.” She added before shooing a smiling Nico out the door. He only laughed a little before he settled down and started his walk to school. There were moments like that where it went to show… he really loved his sisters, he was happy to have them. They were really the only two people on the planet that had ever really seen the raven smile… _really smile_. Though there was a chance two _other_ people might be slowly making way to achieve that with him as well.

 

* * *

 

 

Several minutes later, the raven arrived at the school and headed into his classroom as he figured that’s where the group going camping was going to be waiting. He wasn’t wrong as he glanced around and caught the mingling freshmen and seniors milling around the room. After a few moments, he finally caught sight of Jason and made his way over to him. “Any idea on how this is going to work?” He asked while adjusting his heavier than usual bag on his shoulder. “About a half-hour to wait for everyone to get here and then I think we’re taking buses to get to the camp ground.“ Jason responded without looking down as he seemed to be trying to read something on the board… unfortunately… Nico was too short to see it over the surrounding people himself. But a couple minutes later, the blond’s attention focused on the shorter male and a smile met the raven’s curious look. “What…?” He asked, frowning lightly at the older teen’s grin. “Nothing, just tent assignments. Looks like we’re lucky, you and I are together, Nico.”

Nico nodded lightly at this, he was glad he wasn’t going to be sharing with a complete stranger. “Have you ever been camping before, Jason?” He asked after a minute, feeling curious as he glanced up to see the older’s face. “Kind of. I’m not an expert but I know the basics at least.” Another nod from the younger teen, this was also good… he may like lurking around the woods… but he’s never been out later than seven or eight so he hasn’t had experience in staying in the woods overnight… he hoped Jason also knew how to pitch a tent… because he certainly didn’t. Either way, they were stuck with whatever skills they held between the two of them. At least it seemed like it might end up being a pretty fun weekend. Plus… Jason was pretty easy to get along with once he let go of the border he generally put up between himself and anyone he didn’t know that well. Percy probably skipped that part of phasing into friendship though, but that likely had to do with Nico having to take care of him while injured. So that was a mild exception on his part.

True to Jason’s words, the rest of the people going on the trip arrived and the teachers began herding the 50-something students out the doors and onto some buses to be on their merry way. About an hour and thirty minutes later, they arrived at the campgrounds outside town. It was far enough from ‘civilization’ to be an actual trip rather than just a day long excursion too but close enough to where if someone were to get hurt… help would arrive in no time. It was really a good place though for some reason, Jason seemed kind of tense once they got off the bus. Which was weird as Nico thought the blond was relaxed enough while the two conversed over the differences between ‘mythomagic’ and more mainstream card games like ‘magic: the gathering’ and things like that.

Yeah, surprisingly enough… behind his jock-like exterior, Jason was just as big of a dork as Nico was with some things, that which today… happened to be card games. He had a feeling video games was also on that list though the raven owned none of his own… he still liked them. Idly, he mused over what it may be if it turned out the blond liked books as well too though he certainly didn’t seem like someone who read a lot even if he did. But he was fine with that, 3 out of 4 or 5 wasn’t too bad for a friend.

Returning back to the present, Nico looked at Jason again. “Are you alright?” He asked, a frown present upon his lips with a furrowed brow over the intensity the other appeared to hold. It was like he was a coiled spring ready to snap or something and it seriously left him confused. “I… y-yeah… yeah… I’m fine.” Jason returned a few minutes later, visibly appearing to be relaxed but Nico felt he was still tense. He almost didn’t catch the blond’s mutter a few moments later, it sounded something like… ‘ _It might be a good thing I came after all…_ ’ Though even with that, the raven was simply confused farther.

 

* * *

 

 

As it appeared, Nico didn’t have time to ask about it. Shortly after Jason’s statement, the two found themselves along with the rest of the students marshaled into order and sent off to the grounds and find a place for the tents they’ll be putting up. Each pair of students having been given one as soon as they passed through the gates and into the park. The raven soon found himself in luck once the two got started on the tent. Despite how basic Jason’s knowledge was, he still knew how to put up the tent and helped Nico with his part in a way that at least… wasn’t painful or long, which the younger male was surely grateful. Soon enough, they had their tent up and their things were placed inside. “Let’s tell the teacher we’re done… I want to explore a little.” Nico began before looking to Jason and blinking at the tense expression on his face at his words.

“Is there something wrong with that…?” The raven asked, studying the taller male for several moments and wondering if he said something wrong. “No… Hey… can I come with you?” The other stated, looking down at the shorter with a mildly forced smile. “Uh… I guess… I was going to find a place to sketch a while too so…” He trailed off and shrugged, not sure if Jason would want to stick around while he… just sat there and drew the trees and things. “That’s alright.” Nico was surprised at hearing the agreement before he retrieved his sketch pad and pencil before going to tell the teacher they were done and asking if they could look around.

About ten minutes later, with a promise to be back in a couple hours or so, the two were able to go and explore a while. Jason seemed tense half the time but Nico didn’t mind, he was more focused on spotting what might be worth sketching. After a while, the raven was sure he wasn’t going to find anything when he tripped and stumbled out into a perfect clearing to sketch. There were wildflowers here and there as well as a log to sit on and sketch from. Amazingly, the grass wasn’t even that high either… so it was completely perfect. “Let’s stay here a while.” He called over his shoulder, a little excited at the find as he moved to go sit on the log nearby.

He could see Jason smile from the corner of his eye as the blond teen came around and sat on the other end of the log, not too close to Nico to interrupt his drawing concentration but definitely close enough to watch a little. Normally that would probably make the raven self-conscious but he was too excited to care. So he set about sketching anything and everything he sees, intensely focused in his work. It went on like that peacefully for several minutes but suddenly a _snap!_ came from in front of them and Jason immediately tensed. Something dark and lethe suddenly ran just inside the tree cover Nico was looking at. As soon as it came, it was gone and the raven relaxed slowly.

A few more minutes later, Nico noticed something moving beyond the trees and coming closer to them. He wasn’t certain what it was but he could swear… Jason was… _growling_? But before he could really tell what that might be about, said thing came barreling right out of the trees and right at Jason, sending the blond and the thing down into the grass where Nico couldn’t quite see them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't hate me too much, okay?
> 
> Comment! and review, I read and try to respond to every one of them!


	9. Chapter 9

Worried but kind of scared, Nico moved to  get a better look to see if Jason was ok considering there was some sort of growling and rustling noises coming from where he’d fallen before, suddenly, the other teen jumped up and was faced with—

He blinked… then he blinked again… and blinked a third time before the identity of what had come flying out of the woods fully registered in the young teen’s mind. “ _Percy?!_ ” He exclaimed, looking between the other raven and his blond friend while the two seemed to be having an intense and heated stare down before both older teens grinned and pulled one another into twin headlocks. They seemed to be completely ignoring him at that moment… but Nico wasn’t sure if he was offended over that or not as the two had now begun to laugh and playfully tussle and fell to roll in the grass some more.

The entire scene was such a bizarre sight as for one… he didn’t know the two older teens knew one another and another point was the two were roughhousing without a single care in the world. It was like Nico had completely disappeared from the two’s plain of existence. He waited several moments before he couldn’t take it anymore and cleared his throat loudly. When that didn’t work, he repeatedly called both their names, and when **_that_** didn’t work either… he did his best taxi whistle which finally seemed to get the attention of them both considering the two other boys immediately broke apart and rapidly looked around them before spotting Nico.

“ _Finally_.” He stated with a mildly exasperated and little more than offended expression in his face as… _hello_ yeah he hadn’t really been friends with the two for long _but_ he was their friend and they completely ignored him for at least ten minutes. That wasn’t something anyone could really **not** be upset over. Looking between the two he shifted his weight and looked down a bit. “It really sucks when good friends of yours completely ignore you, you know.” He muttered and got a sheepish look from both.

“Ah… heh heh, Sorry Neeks.” Percy said at the same time Jason responded with his “Sorry about that, Nico” Before he glanced between Percy and Nico in surprise, after a minute, the blond raised his brow and mouthed ‘ _Neeks?_ ’ To the younger teen who simply shrugged with a, ‘ _I don’t know, he just started calling me that._ ’ kind of motion. Receiving a shrug in return, Nico then looked between Percy and Jason again. “So… You guys… um… know each other?” He asked, kind of confused since Jason couldn’t know Percy from anything the raven could think of since the taller had been clueless about actual schools where as Jason actually attended one. “Sort of…” Jason began before he glanced to Percy “We, um… sort of grew up in the same… area. So we got to know each other a little” Supplied the green eyed teen to which Nico sort of shrugged again. “Ok then… so you’re kind of childhood friends…?” He added after a minute to which Jason gave the answer. “Yeah, something like that.” The blond then glanced between Nico and Percy. “So how…?”

“He uh… _helped me_. I um… was _hurt_ and fell unconscious. Nico took me to his place and patched me up, so I’ve kind of been visiting him since.” Percy stated in answer, lightly kicking the ground and studying his shoes. A few more glances between the two ravens and something akin to realization seemed to dawn on the blond’s face, or so it seemed to when his gaze shot to Percy’s quickly and seemed to ask a silent question, to which the other teen nodded. Through this… Nico just grew more confused. What was going on here? Why was Percy suddenly acting so… _shifty_ and what was with Jason’s expression now? It was almost unreadable as the blond appeared to be thinking deeply about something all of a sudden.

Nico was the one looking between the other two now but before he could _ask_ what was up, both older males suddenly shifted their expressions to lighter ones and drove the question right out of the younger’s mind. Really… it seemed like the two were some kind of _bipolar_ or something with how quickly expressions kept changing. But at least they weren’t really ignoring him now. So he kind of sat back on his log and watched the two some more while they watched him back. After a while… Nico finally spoke. “So… what has you all the way out here?” He asked, question directed at Percy. “Uh… um… uh…” The other raven seemed to flounder a little, glancing to Jason (which Nico almost didn’t catch) before looking back at Nico himself. “Er…” The younger took a glance between the two and sighed, shaking his head. “Never mind.” He then chanced a glance at the sky, eyes widen with a muffled curse. “Shit, Jason! We were supposed to be back an hour ago!” He exclaimed with a wild wave at the sky and starting to dash back before he stopped to look back at Percy.

 “Percy? Um…” He looked at Jason, expression seeming to send a message because as soon as their eyes met, the blond looked to Percy himself. “Hey are you _alone_?” The blond put an odd emphasis on ‘alone’ but Nico didn’t think much about it as Percy nodded. “You’re probably out here for a few days at least, right?” Another nod. “Okay. _Since you’re **here**_. Why don’t Nico and I see if you can stay in our tent with us? I’ll explain it to the teachers.” Nico was noting another double meaning in that as well as something in Jason’s eyes seemed to be saying something too but he really couldn’t tell what exactly… so he let the thought drop for now as Percy, seeming to get whatever secret message Jason was passing on gave an ‘Okay’ and followed them out. The teachers didn’t seem happy they were late now, nor were they happy they brought an extra camper. It seemed like they may have refused but then Jason said something else that had the teachers nod. More confusing passes really, Nico seriously couldn’t figure it out. But, either way, it looked like Percy was camping with them for the rest of the weekend.

 

* * *

 

 

The rest of the night and the next day seemed to pass without event, Percy and Jason both eased up while Nico was around but it seemed like a couple hours later each time, the two would leave for a bit and then came back looking grim before they notice Nico looking at them and simply smile. It was all pretty weird but… at least the two seemed to enjoy themselves the rest of the time. Come dawn the next morning, Nico convinced the two to join him in the clearing again for him to sketch some more. Getting permission was hard but after a lot of convincing, the teacher finally relented them half the day (and no longer) to go off on their own.

Picking his way through the trees to avoid another tripping episode, Nico looked up and at the clearing for a bit before glancing to Percy and Jason. After that he continued forward and sat on his log though the other two males chose to just hang around in the grass which eventually turned into playful wrestling for a while. The dark eyed raven soon found himself watching the two males in the grass more than his surroundings so… he put away his pad and simply began to watch the two instead.

After a while though… the older boys noticed Nico watching and seemed to share a glance with a moment of silent communication again, in less time than he could take to register what was happening— Jason and Percy were on him and bringing him into their wrestling match. He couldn’t help his laughs from that, he really couldn’t. But as fast as they started messing around with him, they froze. Percy suddenly standing while Jason was holding a guarding arm out to prevent the smaller raven from standing when a voice broke from the trees.

“Well well… isn’t this a sight to see. A new chew toy of yours? Mind if I take a _nibble_?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *casually goes to hide somewhere before the pitchforks come, it's a one chapter week*
> 
> I promise this is the last cliffy for a little bit, and around chapter 12 you guys will love me again.
> 
> I'm sure of it~!
> 
> And at some point, I think chapter 12 actually... 12 or 13 the format is going to change. Let me know if that works better and I'll be sure to go back through and edit everything to keep the format consistent.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we are, I hope you guys enjoy!
> 
> News follow in the notes after the story~

Nico had about thirty seconds to be confused before he saw someone stepping from the woods with a small smile on his lips and a nasty scar over one of his eyes.

Well… he was blond like Jason, but there was a sneer on his lips and a hard glint to his steely blue eyes. This guy looked like a predator… and not all that sane. Nico immediately disliked him. Plus, he didn’t really feel all that safe in the guy’s presence though Jason’s guard and Percy’s protective stance were definitely helping. He stayed quiet, glancing between the three males and wondering what was exactly happening before Percy growled something that the younger raven couldn’t understand and then barked at Jason. “Get him outta here, Jay! You should probably get the others away too.” Nico wasn’t sure why it was phrased that way but before he had time to question it, Jason lifted him up and suddenly he was being carried away as apparently, the older male didn’t think he’d move fast enough.

He just barely caught his bag as they went by; at least the raven knew struggling probably wasn’t something he should do. He just caught Percy and the mysterious blond launching themselves at one another before the trees enclosed the two from his view. “What was _that_ Jason?! What the _hell_ was that?!” He exclaimed shortly, twisting so he could look at the other as best he could while being carried like a sack of potatoes. “Someone Percy and I both know… he’s…” It seemed like the blond was nearly growling. “He’s… bad news. I can just say, he’s not a very nice guy and he’s tried to… to get my sister involved with… a… a ‘gang’ I guess I should call it. He’s also tried to pull someone who’s like a sister to Percy into it as well. So we aren’t very… friendly… with one another.” The taller explained, still carrying him through the trees and weaving between trunks rather than the straight path.

“Bad news? Ok… so is Percy going to be alright? Facing a guy like that…” Nico questioned, just a little concerned for the other after news like that but Jason smiled a little. “He’ll be fine. He can handle himself pretty well against that guy, don’t worry about him Nico. Instead… worry about our classes. Luke usually isn’t without his buddies and… they’re good at finding people that can’t defend themselves. So we have to leave early.” Nico could only really nod before noticing they were coming back into the campgrounds. “You can put me down now, Jason…” He stated with a light prod in the taller’s shoulder. “Ah, right. Sorry. C’mon, let’s get the teachers to get us away from here.” Jason returned before setting him down and allowing him to walk on his own two feet, the raven then nodded and turned towards where the teachers were most likely to be.

After a lot of convincing, the teachers all agreed and called for students to round up the tents and their things, it was time to leave. Complaints echoed all around but everyone grudgingly went to work. Nico could tell Jason was barely holding back barking at everyone to hurry up. His gaze went down to an impatiently tapping foot before flicking back up to Jason and then at their class. To be honest, Nico might have been a little anxious himself. That other blond seemed dangerous… especially with all this going on. He was really hoping Percy would be alright.

Jason, seeming to notice where his thoughts were going, spoke up with a playful ruffle of the shorter’s hair, relaxing a little for his sake most likely. “Don’t worry Nico. I’m sure it’ll be alright, okay? I told you Percy could handle himself. He’ll be back before you know it.” Though the way he started to get anxious again a few minutes later told the raven haired male that he might not be as sure as he originally let off.

Sometime later, shortly after Jason had taken to pacing, the buses were loaded and ready to go with them being the only two left in line to get on the bus. “Should we wait for Per—“ Nico began before being cut off by the blond nudging him to move. “Let’s go. Percy is probably already on his way back himself Nico, don’t worry about it. Now come on, quickly. You know how Mrs. Dodds gets when you don’t hurry up.” The raven sighed and nodded, moving to get on. As it was, the last seat open was one towards the back. Jason slid in one side with Nico on the other. Once the bus started moving though, the shorter thought he caught sight of a flash of a sandy colored coat in his peripheral vision. It was a huge wolf startling close, he only caught a glimpse of the canine’s face (a dazzling yet ugly scar running jaggedly down the wolf’s face) before it was tackled to the ground by a snarling black wolf.

He tried to see more but all too soon they took a turn and the fighting wild animals were obscured by thick leaves and close compacted branches.

 

* * *

 

A few hours later, Nico was finally back home and anxiously pacing a rut in his carpet as he wondered what happened with Percy and if the other was alright or if something happened with the other guy that possibly endangered the older teen’s life. He sighed a bit a few minutes later, shaking his head and sitting heavily on his bed. Idly… he wondered what he was missing. Clearly there were things going on that he didn’t have a single clue about. Percy and Jason were both deeply involved in it but he just wasn’t sure _how_ they were involved within it. But that much was obvious from how the two interacted and reacted around one another.

Rolling on his back to stare up at his ceiling, Nico wondered if there was something the older boys were hiding. That one other male was disconcerting… and just everything else up till now too. He just… _couldn’t put his finger on it_. And **that** was driving him absolutely _mad_ from the entire thing. Nico never really was one to leave a mystery unsolved after all. He just needed to figure it out and get some proof before confronting the two other boys about it… But… how was he even going to do _that_ either? Sighing, the raven closed his eyes and clapped for his lights to go out. It was getting late and he was suddenly tired… he’ll figure out that business later. He thought to himself before falling asleep and into both good and bad dreams.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now, heres the thing. It's Christmas Week! So, What I'm going to do for this is post three chapters this week, but have it as one every other day. After these I _am_ going to have to ask everyone to be very patient with me, seeing as I'm reaching the end of my reserved chapters and I need a bit to get more written out. I do promise all you lovely and wonderful readers will enjoy them though, even if the regular updates aren't going to be happening till I get more reserved chapters done. 
> 
> I will say here though, I'm looking for scenario suggestions all of you might like to see happen in future chapters. I have an idea for the final two or so but I'm still looking for more to write about in between the current ones and those last few. 
> 
> So feel free to leave any of your suggestions in the comments section below! I won't promise they'll make it in but I could very well use a few of them as I start adding more to the story.


	11. Chapter 11

As it turned out, it was about a week before Nico saw Percy again… Jason, however, seemed to see the older raven regularly as when the shorter asked if he saw him the blond would say he had and that Percy was fine. Just that he wasn’t able to get away from his family to come visit Nico some more like he had before. This didn’t reassure the younger too much as the days went on, but there really wasn’t much else he could do at this rate.

He sighed a bit as he walked home, rolling his shoulders and debating on doing something to get rid of any pent up fidgety feelings when suddenly something very heavy and very warm was on his back and nearly caused the raven to pitch forward from the apparent momentum he’d been hit with. A sing-song, “Nico~~!”, greeting him a moment later caused the raven to cast a glance back and crane his neck to see that Percy had decided to make him his personal arm-rest for the moment.

“Percy.” He returned and stared at the older male for several minutes until he got the notice that he should let him go and let him breathe again for a few minutes. It took a bit, the older raven still clinging to him and just… being oddly cuddly before he quickly let go and apologized for the sudden ‘glomp’ of sorts.

“Sorry, Neeks. I just kind of missed you, that’s all.” Percy amended with a sheepish look to which Nico just shook his head and stretched to get rid of any knots that may have built from the prolonged hugging. It wasn’t that he didn’t like it, it’s just all the pent up worry had strained and over tensed his muscles so his back was a little constrained as a result.

“It’s fine… what happened by the way?” Nico asked, stepping back a bit to take a look at the older male. He seemed to have some cuts and bruises that were healing up from the prior incident in the woods with that one other guy but otherwise seemed fine. Something Nico was fairly thankful for.

“Ah… I managed to get rid of him but then I sort of got into a lot of trouble for a while. Not a big deal, but it didn’t let me come over here for a while.” The shorter noted the heavy frown on the older’s face and took a moment or two to appreciate it before he shook his head and cleared it of ridiculous thoughts that ended up following that.

“I see… so you’re… not in trouble anymore then?” He questioned lightly, curiosity present as Percy seemed to fidget and shrugged in a bit of an awkward manner. “So you came here… while still in trouble…?” An incredulous look crossing over his face as the other didn’t appear to be entirely anxious about denying that fact. “You didn’t…” Percy still didn’t seem overly eager to answer him then. “PERCY!” Nico exclaimed, letting his head fall against his palm before sighing lightly and shaking his head again afterwards.

“I was worried you’d miss me?” The taller offered hopefully before Nico just sighed and shook his head. He was pretty much done with Percy’s attempt at excuses right now and just waved him into the house. Thankfully his sisters were out again and he could possibly ask Percy a few things about what he’s been thinking about lately. He hasn’t had a chance to get Jason alone to ask anything so Percy was second best in this case.

“Percy…” He began before pausing and shaking his head, thinking better of it. He’ll have to think of an easier way to ask. This really was a hard thing to begin… wasn’t it? ‘Hey, are you and Jason secretly hiding something or am I just being delusional?’ wasn’t really something to start a conversation with after all. Mildly agitated with the lack of a start, Nico grumbled faintly and disappeared into the kitchen to make something to drink.

It was better to ask them one at a time right? If they _were_ hiding something they’d probably come up with some way to push him off of it… So subtle confrontation. Frankly, Percy would probably be the easiest to start with. He might not catch to what he was asking as quickly as Jason would but still… how was he going to ask about this? The frustrated sound he made after that questioning thought must have been louder than he thought it was as… as soon as he finished, Percy charged into the kitchen while looking around and appearing to be ready for a fight.

He blinked a moment, watching the older teen a minute or two before shaking his head. “Relax Percy, I was just thinking of something and got annoyed with myself. You don’t have to look like you’re about to charge into battle. A pause. “Does something have you on edge or…?” He trailed off, gesturing lightly in front of himself to fill in the blank a bit before rolling his shoulders and turning back to making ice tea.

“Sorry Neeks. Yeah, I’m just a little one edge. Something’s sort of been bothering me for a while. Since… um.. when we met Luke. That’s the guy Jason and I got you and your classes away from. He’s bad news, Neeks. Can you promise me something…?” Percy stated, seeming anxious about the shorter raven’s answer.

A moment of confusion before the shorter nodded. “Yeah… what is it?”

“If you see that guy… try not to let him see you. Especially without me or Jason there… He… he could hurt you, you know? I don’t want you getting hurt just because he saw you with us. So promise me you’ll slip away before he catches notice of you if you happen to see him anywhere… okay? Please? I really need this Nico…”

Seeing Percy looking so distressed and worried over this made the raven wonder more about them hiding something but he wouldn’t want the older to worry himself sick or anything so once the other was finished, he nodded and assured him. “I promise. I’m pretty good at going about unnoticed sometimes so I think I could do it without much of a problem.”

“Thank you, Nico. That really helped a lot.” Percy really did look relieved after that too. Nico shifted slightly, adjusting his weight in an awkward manner before shrugging and focusing on pouring them both something to drink without answering. How Percy had thanked him made him a little shy as he wasn’t quite used to the other male looking like he had. It did weird things he wasn’t quite ready to think about just yet… he still needed to ask him about the hiding something thing after all.

“No problem, Percy.” He added after several moments of that awkward quiet before sighing and shaking his head. He just couldn’t do it… he was pretty sure either the other raven would give in and tell him or he’d skirt the subject leaving the shorter with even more sense that there was something going on that he knew nothing about and would end up driving him insane as he wondered just what exactly it was… or something.

In the end, he decided to let the question sit in the back of his mind for now. He just couldn’t bring himself to ask Percy either. Perhaps the answer would come to him in the near future... he had a feeling it would. So with that… the two of them just hung out and drank the tea while exchanging news and points of interest that had happened to one another through the week.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter is the cutest one I've written I think. 
> 
> So stay tuned and keep a look out on Christmas day for tooth rotting fluff!
> 
> Even if it's not a Christmas Chapter XD
> 
> Since I started writing this last summer--


	12. Chapter 12

Yet another week goes by, and Nico still hasn’t asked the two boys what they were hiding but that question soon had little importance when the teen’s elder sister found him in bed with a stuffed up nose, splitting headache, fever, and general nausea that liked to make it known that it’s host had a pretty bad stomach bug with mixed symptoms that told her Nico was suffering from a cold as well or something close to the two. It was decreed Nico be forced to stay home for the next few days in order to be sure he was completely well and no longer infective to others.

Of course… _of course_ Jason had to stop by after school upon hearing of his young friend’s state and it was soon clear the blond may have mentioned the case to Percy as well if the knock at the front door 15 minutes after Jason had gotten there was anything to go by. Nico couldn’t help a heavy frown with a bit of a sulk at the two older teens before retreating into a blanket cocoon.

“Why are you two here?”

He mumbled with a cracking voice, facing away from them both and coughing into his covers while grumbling about being sick and that it’s nasty and how the two older teens could catch it and wondering what possessed them to visit while he’s sick. Yes… Nico di Angelo isn’t fond of company when not feeling well… or rather… he tries to be in order to hide how he’s _really_ like when sick like this. Only his **sisters** have right to see how much he likes being spoiled and coddled when unwell and it was the last thing he wanted either of the two older males to see… like… _ever_.

Unfortunately, Fate was not on his side today.

Considering how… his half-mumbled attempts to get them to leave only caused an exchanging of looks before Percy slipped into the kitchen and Jason went to get some water and a cloth to place on the younger raven’s sweat-matted forehead.

“Seriously… _why are you **both** here_?”

He tried again, attempting a glare as Jason returned and pressed the ice cold washcloth against the younger’s forehead.

“I met Hazel earlier; she told us what was up and why she and Bianca couldn’t be here to care for you after school today and stuff for the next couple days too. Percy is going to make time to come during school and then I’m going to come right after till you’re better. Bianca has a trip this week, right? And Hazel mentioned she had some things she needed to do that she can’t cancel. So they left it to us to help you.”

Jason even had the nerve to show a little grin as he spoke, like there was a hidden secret from his sisters that the blond wasn’t telling him about. Nico could only half growl at an attempt to remain grumpy while wondering what on earth his sisters were doing placing him at the hands of two somewhat attractive guys whilst sick. He sighed shortly after, closing his eyes and submitting for now.

“They like meddling…”

He mumbled, just barely loud enough for the blond to hear and give him a puzzled look.

“What?”

“Nothing, just forget it and go make sure Percy doesn’t burn down the kitchen please…”

He muttered before rolling to his side and closing his eyes in an attempt to fall asleep. Sickness goes away faster with rest… right? Or so he hoped was the case in addition to let him escape the awkward questions that could have followed his statement.

* * *

 

When Nico next awoke, it seemed that Jason had followed his request and went to be sure Percy wasn’t doing anything he shouldn’t be. It was actually unusually quite… what time was it? He looked over at his clock to see it read out ‘6:30 PM’ Wow… he slept late… he wasn’t even sure if Jason and Percy were still there but his stomach protested being empty and he didn’t feel quite as feverish or lightheaded as he was earlier.

So standing carefully… he took a blanket and wrapped it around his shoulders before moving over to the door and taking a look inside. Jason was crashed on the couch but as soon as the raven took a few more steps and hit a creaky floorboard underneath the carpet the blond jolted awake and looked around quickly before focusing on Nico standing just outside his door.

“Oh, uh… Hey. Um, Percy made some soup for you and.. well… don’t be surprised by the color. I tried to convince him not to, but it was already too late by the time I got into the kitchen.”

Nico blinked a little, looking at him questioningly.

“Did he burn it or something?”

“No… it’s uh… you’ll see. How are you feeling by the way?”

Nico gave him a look, wondering what could be so unusual about the food if it wasn’t burnt before he shook his head.

“I’m alright for now, I just need to eat…”

Ignoring the fact he had a nasty headache and his voice sounded like he gargled sandpaper (Yes, he knows that’s fairly impossible to do. But technicalities… ignore them). A cough fell from his lips as he started for the kitchen and nearly crashed his head into the floor from tripping over the blanket. He would have if not for Jason jumping up to catch him before he had at least.

“Careful Nico, you don’t want to hit your head and get a concussion on top of not feeling well, right?”

The blond then offered a smile and let him go before taking a step back to allow the raven to continue into the kitchen. Nico noted that even as he was walking just fine the other was still watching to be sure he didn’t trip again and clearly wanted to press a hand at his back even to help him farther…

“Jason…?”

“Yeah?”

“You’re hovering…”

“Oh… Sorry.”

“It’s fine… I just don’t need to be constantly watched, that’s all.”

“I know… haha, sorry. I couldn’t help it.”

“Mmhm.”

Nico sighed as Jason laughed a little at the end of his statement before shaking his head. He was going to strangle Hazel later when she comes back.. (Ok, not really but he still wasn’t happy with her _or_ Bianca. There **will** be _words_ with them.) He shifted the blanket on his shoulders some more as they proceeded to the kitchen and Nico took note of Percy snoring with his head resting atop his arms at the table… like he too had been waiting for Nico to wake up and ended up falling asleep before he had.

“Percy.”

He called quietly, causing the taller raven to stir and wake while blinking around him blearily.

“Huh wha— oh… Neeks. You’re awake?”

A sleepy smile was aimed the shorter’s way before the older raven seemed to come more awake and stretched slowly. Once he seemed more alert, Percy stood and started to reheat the soup he had covered on the oven.

“I can make basic stuff but anything fancy needs more… um… practice. Chicken noodle is good for sicknesses though, right?”

“Don’t lie Percy, you burn almost anything that isn’t premade.”

“Like _you_ can do any better, Sparky.”

“Hey, hey, as a matter of fact I _can_ , Bubbles.”

“Oh really? I’d like to see you try—“

“Can you two save the testosterone display and completely forgetting there’s _three_ people here until _after_ I’m better, you two?”

“Sorry, Neeks!”

“Yeah, Sorry Nico.”

He only shook his head at the twin apologetic looks and momentary bristling that proceeded to ensue before he got them to stop for a few minutes. He tried to sniff for the scent of the chicken soup but unfortunately his nose was still too stuffed up to smell much of anything.

A light sigh fell from his lips at the fact before he took a seat and leaned back whilst closing his eyes. God did his head hurt, when was the headache and stuffy nose supposed to end?

Shortly after he took a seat, Percy presented him with a bowl of soup… only it didn’t look like chicken noodle soup… it was… _blue_? He blinked in confusion for a few minutes while trying to comprehend if he suddenly had gone colorblind or if his cold/fever/flu whatever it was happened to be playing tricks on his mind before looking between Jason and Percy… nope… still purple shirt and orange shirt… still blond and black… still blue and green.

“Why is it… _blue_ …?”

He could see Percy pouting a little as soon as the question was out of his mouth before Jason came to the older raven’s rescue of sorts and explaining why exactly he had a thing for making food blue. Nico just shook his head and sighed a bit before starting to eat the blue hued soup. At least it _tasted_ normal, looks aside.

When he was done, he leaned back to look at the two curiously. A mild thought crossing his mind before he parted his lips to speak.

“Isn’t it late…? I thought you both would have gone home by now…”

He stated quietly, voice a low murmur that sounded much better after he’d finished off the broth of the soup too. He wouldn’t mind if they stayed the night… as surprising as that would be but Percy was in trouble only last week and he wasn’t sure where Jason lived but he didn’t think he was the type to stay the night. Sick friend or not.

“Well… I thought we could stay… right Percy?”

“Yeah, at least the night. I don’t know if I can stay again if you’re still sick tomorrow night but… you know. I just want to be sure you’re alright tonight, Nico.”

Nico barely heard Jason and Percy’s words though, suddenly struck by how _tired_ he was again. Rubbing at his drooping eyes before he shook his head.

“Suite yourselves… just don’t get sick cause of me… okay?”

He mumbled before stumbling on his blanket and pitching forward, this time caught by Percy and promptly lifted off the ground as Jason wrapped the dragging blanket around him.

“We won’t, come on, let’s get you to bed”

Percy murmured back, leading the way into the shorter raven’s room and tucking him in. The two didn’t leave then though, seeming to not fear sickness contamination they both settled down on either side of Nico and grinned down at him though he could barely see it.

“What are you two doing?”

He questioned, yawning and eyes refusing to stay open.

“You’re going to get sick…”

He mumbled one last time before drifting off to sleep, too tired to berate them farther. He could have sworn he felt them come in closer, promptly surrounding him with a wall of warmth that stated they both had figured out some way to cuddle him at the same time.

He’ll have _words_ with them about that… later…

Nico’s breaths evened out into deep and peaceful sleep, safe guarded by the two boys beside him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So! Merry Christmas Everyone! 
> 
> And let me remind you, feel free to leave suggestions for chapter themes in the comments please. I'd really appreciate it if all of you could give me a little help so I can provide you with even more chapters! 
> 
> Also, let me know if you like this formatting better than the previous one. I can't tell you when the next update will be, but I can promise it will come soon.
> 
> Have a Nice Evening~!


	13. Chapter 13

A few days later, Saturday morning, Nico was well again and catching up on his homework when the doorbell rang to announce visitors. His sisters were out again so he stretched and stood with a faint yawn while rumpling his hair as he walked over to answer it.

To Nico’s surprise, he found Percy and Jason standing there in swim shorts and t-shirts with towels and some bags of food, one small truck parked at the edge of his driveway. A confused look entering the raven’s face for a minute or two before he held his hands up.

“I can’t swim, I’m not going to a pool with you guys so don’t even try.”

That made the two exchange a look before Percy steps forward with a grin.

“I can teach you! And we’re going to a beach about an hour away… spending all day there. Thalia already told Bianca about it and I’m sure Hazel will know soon too. So come on! Let’s have some fun!”

Nico took a moment to look between the blond and raven a few minutes before sighing faintly. They were getting friendlier than he liked with his sisters… conniving and whatnot for consistently getting him alone with these two guys so often… he _really_ needed to talk to his sisters about this happening so much.

“Why are we going to a beach?”

He decided to ask since the two could easily kidnap him and take him away to the aforementioned beach anyway considering they both were considerably stronger than he personally was.

“It’s a nice day out, everyone’s busy but us and you so… thought we could hang out.”

Jason supplied with a smile before heading back to the truck to put everything away, he was obviously going to be the one driving and hopefully there was more than enough space in the front seat for all three of them to fit or else Nico might end up unhappy.

He sighed faintly, obviously Percy was left to make sure he changed and got his own supplies and it was clear they weren’t going to leave him be so he had no choice but to go along with them. He reached a hand to scratch at the back of his neck before he shook his head and went to change into the skull and crossbones swim shorts his sisters had bought him that he ended up never using before. A simple black skull t-shirt to go on top and a black hoodie to use in case it got cold.

“Come on…”

He mumbled after slipping into a pair of flip-flops and catching up his black towel.

“What do you guys have so far?”

He added before moving to hunt through the cupboard to find snack-type things to bring with him. He also thought to bring a book and his sketch pad too. He’d try avoiding getting into the water as much as possible but sketching the older boys were a nice pastime so far… so… that was something to do.

He still had no idea what Percy and Jason might have been hiding a while ago but he’d since given up. He just couldn’t ask them about it… either way he simply shook his head to clear it, listened to the types of snacks the two taller males had procured for their beach visit, and grabbed his own choices to add to it before leading the way to the truck to get everything sorted.

 

* * *

 

 

Glancing over the wide beach, several people everywhere and noting how his companions were consistently noticed as they looked for a spot to spread out their towels and an umbrella the two had brought as well… They didn’t even notice it either. At least Percy didn’t. Jason seemed to be used to having girls stare at him all day though since as soon as he noted the looks they were getting he just shrugged and otherwise ignored them.

Nico sighed again and ran a hand through his hair before blinking when he realized near their end of the beach there was a border of tall pines that spoke of the fact they were, yet again, near a forest. He could have sworn that no matter where he went here… there would always be a wooded area nearby.

Shaking his head, he relaxed back and watched Percy and Jason in the water, diligently refusing them every time Percy tried to get him to get in too. At least Jason prevented Percy from up and picking him up to throw him in the water.

It wasn’t until it started to get cloudy that he finally gave in to Percy’s constant pleading for him to let him show him how to swim, but that didn’t seem to be able to last long either considering Jason seemed to hear something and immediately straightened his back while growing protective. A moment later, Percy mimicked the action and carefully held Nico close. He was confused with this and the protective guarding arms around him when he suddenly heard several howls rise from the nearby woods.

If that wasn’t weird enough… he could hear Percy growling above him, green eyes hard and dark like a stormy unforgiving sea. Glancing to Jason it looked like _he_ was growling too if his hunched shoulders and fighting stance were anything to go by.

Nico also noticed the moon hanging low in the sky, it was still late midday but the clouds cleared enough for him to catch sight of the almost full disk just off from the slowly sinking sun in the orange and ruby atmosphere.

But the weirdest thing… had to be what came from the forest. The first three were definitely wolves… huge and nasty looking with varied coats of all different colors and snarling lips with snapping jaws as they glared evilly at the three of them. One of them… he noticed, happened to be the sandy wolf with the nasty scar down his face. The last two though… they were humans but it was very clear they’d been howling on the way out.

The beach had cleared out earlier, people thinking it may rain and turning in early (Percy and Jason having been having too much fun for Nico to suggest they leave too). So it was completely empty now except for the three of them and the wolves/humans in front of them.

Percy and Jason both growled louder, eyes flashing to show anger while Jason hunched over more causing Nico to notice he… didn’t… quite look like _Jason_ anymore. Wait a minute…

Were those actually _claws_? And… what… _fur_? What is…

Nico’s thought’s trailed off as his eyes widened at the sight of Jason becoming an enormous snarling blond wolf. He blinked his eyes and shook his head several times but… Jason was still a wolf.

Okay… weird… weirder than weird. This isn’t _Twilight_ … right…?

No, no he hasn’t watched the movies so don’t even think he had. He’d just heard of it and that’s what the situation seemed to be but with opposing wolf packs rather than sparkling lame-ass vampires from the looks of it. Actually… it was probably more like one of the other werewolf esque shows or books he’s read or seen but he couldn’t think of anything too well known at the moment so that’s the reference his mind came up with instead.

He didn’t have much time to think about it though as the three enemy wolves were on the blond in an instant and his sight of one of his best friends was lost to him for the moment. Soon enough, his gaze went to the two girls staring towards them… in particularly Percy.

“So you guys _do_ have an adorable new little chewtoy now. I thought Luke might have been lying.”

Smiled one and Nico immediately disliked her. She had a mean disposition, he could just tell. He leaned back against Percy, watching her warily as the other girl hung back and suddenly appeared to be wishing she was elsewhere at the moment.

“ _Kelli_ ”

Percy spat at the first before looking to the one hanging back and sighed lightly.

“Selina…”

He murmured after before turning his attention back to Kelli, gaze narrow and hard as he did.

“What do you want?”

He asked quietly while Nico looked down, suddenly unsure of what he knew and wondering why all this was happening as the sound of snarling and fighting wolves filled the following silence.

“Well, Luke said he scented your little toy and thought we could pay him a little.. visit…”

Kelli said, smiling as if she’d just announced she’d passed a difficult test or something instead of implying they’d come to possibly kill Nico. He shivered a little; somewhat afraid of what could have happened if they’d caught him in town while he was alone rather than with Percy and Jason… (Who was holding his own spectacularly against the three other wolves by the way though it was clear he was weakening).

“Percy…”

He murmured softly, gaze lifting to study the taller teen’s back as he spoke, wondering if he could find some kind of answer there or what.

“Sorry, Neeks. We _were_ thinking of mentioning something since Luke got so close but…”

The green eyed male shrugged though Nico couldn’t see his expression as the other had not taken his eyes off the two girls before him.

“I got it… um…”

Nico looked to Jason before back at Percy, getting a little worried but it was clear they were seriously outnumbered and…

“Heh heh, don’t worry buddy. Calvary is coming soon. You see… Jace and I figured this might happen while we were out here. We kind of hoped it wouldn’t but… just in case, some friends are nearby, ya know?”

Percy had said that with a glance over his shoulder just as Jason sent out a loud howl that was soon joined by Percy’s as the first girl… the more threatening one stepped forward warningly.

But that was all Nico had time to notice before a chorus of howls from some other part of the woods answered the two and about four other wolves burst forth from the woods. Another blond wolf (though seeing how much lighter the gray-eyed wolf’s coat was compared to Jason’s he decided his friend might be more golden in color) followed by a curly furred brown one both deviated to either of Percy’s sides and growled at Kelli and her companion as a sleek yet rough looking black one along with a shaggy brown one both took a wolf each from Jason’s battle to combat with themselves.

It was pretty obvious they hadn’t been expecting more people to show up when a snarl from the wolf that had broken away from it’s fight with Jason seemed to be telling the other four wolves to retreat. Nico allowed a mild sigh of relief and collapsed into the sand with his eyes closed. Slowly, he rewound the entire battle in his mind’s eye in an effort to comprehend what had just happened more fully.

“Nico?”

He kept his eyes closed and sighed lightly before asking a question at the sound of Percy’s voice.

“What _was_ that? Am I going crazy or did you… and Jason he… _what **are** you guys_?”

He ended up groaning, opening his eyes again to stare up into calm green. A moment or two of staring and he was struck with a very startling recall of another set of eyes that exact shade of green. Accompanied with his new knowledge about the giant wolf transformation thing…

“Holy **_shit_**! That… you… I…”

His eyes were wide and his cheeks heated up a little bit while remembering a picture resting right above his headboard at home.

“You guys… _those_ … in the forest… that… that’s… those… _those wolves I like to take pictures of_! T-they’re you guys…?”

He groaned then, covering his face with a hand. This was just too much information overload for god’s sake.

“[Oh, per l'amor di dio. Questo è troppo! Perché questo accade anche... _come_ si accadendo?! Io proprio non posso... _perché_... Che _cazzo_ reale è ancora accadendo a me?! Ho finalmente perdo?! Io non sanno nemmeno. DIO AIUTAMI.](%22Oh,%20for%20the%20love%20of%20god.%20This%20is%20too%20much!%20Why%20is%20this%20happening%20...%20How%20is%20this%20happening%20?!%20I%20just%20can%E2%80%99t%20...%20What%20the%20fuck.%20Is%20this%20really%20happening%20to%20me%20?!%20Is%20this%20even%20real?%20Did%20I%20finally%20lose%20it?!%20I%20don%E2%80%99t%20even%20know.%20GOD%20HELP%20ME.%E2%80%9D)”

Nico couldn’t take it, he just couldn’t. Everything was all out of proportion and he hadn’t even _expected_ this kind of outcome as was displayed by his aggressive hand motions and rambling in adamant Italian.

“Nico, nico, nico. Come on, calm down and let us explain, okay? Can you do that?”

Percy pleaded, catching the shorter raven’s hands in his own and causing Nico to look at him with a mildly disgruntled expression for interrupting his ranting. After a few moments of staring into the imploring puppy-eyed gaze, Nico sighed and relaxed. He was exhausted now and he wasn’t sure how this was even happening but… Percy and Jason can explain.

“Explain then.”

He stated quietly, heaving a sigh and leaning forward a little… just completely slammed with this. How could he have not noticed it was something like this…? Oh that’s right… because werewolves or shape shifters or whatever they were usually _only existed in books and games_.

It took a while, Jason even changing back to human (thankfully with clothes magically reappearing on his body) in order to help and fill in any blanks that Percy ended up pausing in his story to think about… so essentially… if Nico understood it correctly, the two older boys were the offspring of some kind of werewolf breed and humans. They had fully human forms year-round while their wolfy parents did not. Neither of the older teens or the present members of their packs could fully explain how they came to be but it was basically a bunch of mythical mumbo jumbo that Nico grew tired from trying to fully comprehend it all in it’s entirety.

It was basically just a lot of unexplainable occurrences and he was fine with knowing that much. He did find out all of Jason’s friends were in his ‘pack’ sans one and the two members that had come to Percy’s aid were a girl named Annabeth who stood a little close to Percy at a point that made the younger raven mildly uncomfortable and a friendly gangly looking guy named Grover. He found he liked Grover, they seemed to share a couple interests and that was a big bonus in the smaller’s book.

Eventually, the sun had completely sunk into the sea and alerted Nico to the fact it was too late to stay out much longer… he had school tomorrow though it seemed Jason and his friends were skipping out due to the full moon coming out the next night. Which brought one last question to the raven’s lips as he glanced between Jason, Thalia, and Piper.

“How do you guys even _pass_ if you miss school every Full and New Moon?”

Jason lifted a hand to rub at his neck as he glanced to Piper and Thalia.

“Uh… Thalia and I’s father… he kind of owns the school. So he’s able to make a… special case for us when wolf stuff comes up. It’s kind of hard to go to school during both since we’re either so restless we can’t stay still or we’re so lethargic we can barely move. Plus all the packs minus Luke and his… parent pack… have runs that go on for miles when the moon is full. So sometimes it takes three days just to get back.”

Nico nodded, figuring the blond’s explanation made some sort of sense at least. He sighed a bit and leaned back so he could push himself off the ground and dust the sand from himself.

“Have fun…?”

He stated to the wolves before him, stretching languidly and cracking his fingers with a content sound passing his lips.

“Now get me home before Bee and Zee worry or think things they shouldn’t be thinking…”

He stated, mumbling the last part and receiving a smirk from Thalia and Piper while Jason and Percy just looked confused.

“Never mind.”

He mumbled, reddening with a cough and a glare to the offending girls. Really, who was sane enough to _not_ immediately jump to thoughts he rather not be thought of him with most of these people?! Conspirators… every one of them. Even _Percy’s_ friends were beginning to look at him oddly… great.

“Hurry up. Let’s go?”

He added, looking up at the two and waiting for one to start to the car. He did wonder if they both were going to go or one or if the other four teens would just pile into the back or something.

It wasn’t a long wait at least as Percy lead the way with Jason while the others just slipped into a loose circle around Nico himself like some kind of guard or something. It was kind of weird but at least he knew both Thalia and Piper… even speaking with them as little as he had.

Percy, Nico, and Jason all settled in the front and Thalia, Piper, Annabeth, and Grover settled in the back with a muted conversation breaking out amongst them. He didn’t know what they were talking about really… as… as soon as they were situated in the front… Nico found himself slowly nodding off against Percy’s shoulder (unintentionally of course) as Jason drove him home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, here we are. Now I'm serious about needing ideas to extend the story here. I mused about a total of 20 chapters when I started writing and the last two are going to be a big showdown between the three packs (technically 6 packs total but you don't see the other three in this one. Might be a sequel where they're brought in though. Anyway, there's 2(maybe 1 and a half) other chapters already written so, I'd like you guys to see if theres anything you wanna see after Nico's gotten used to the fact his best friends are werewolves. And with that, I leave you--
> 
> Please note I used Google Translate for the Italian so if anything is wrong... it'snotmyfault. And I forgot to add a translation in the file so.. had to google it back and sorta lost what I had originally input.


	14. Not an Update, An Announcement from Writer

So, this is not an update and I'm sorry for those of you guys still waiting!! But I have finally gotten time and I have an announcement for any of you still following this story.

 

Hi, I know you all have been waiting a long time for this to get continued and updated but I have had college and school work... and a lack of inspiration to write in this story so I come to you here to tell you, that this is on an indefinite postpone and hiatus. I know that there is a lot of interest that's been vested in this story and how disappointing it can be to wait and wait and to finally get a notification only to have it not be an actual update thats been hoped for.

 

But I thought I should explain myself and not leave you all hanging and wondering and wishing to see more.

 

I originally wrote this to go in the big bang that we had so long ago, but I lacked inspiration for months and ended up stuck and thus dropped out, but then I got inspiration again and thought I could keep going to the end so I started posting it only to hit a block again.

 

And this block lasted on and on through me getting into college, being swamped with school work, home stress, and distractions that left me without a mood to write.

 

I have free time again, if only for a few short weeks till I have to return to classes but I thought I should come to an official decision about this fic and decide what to do with it for now, hence this announcement and the 'Postpone & Hiatus' status for this story. I am not giving up on it, I will eventually come back to it, but it probably will not be for quite a long time until I have school and life sorted more easily and feel the inspiration muse for this story once again.

 

I may be writing one or two shorter stories in the future so, look forward to those eventually coming through but for now, this is Kumo rolling off till the next story comes to mind and I feel like writing again.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are Appreciated btw! Constructive Criticism and any remarks on the chapters are definitely good ways to let me know how well I'm doing! I do make sure to reply to each one when I can as well!


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